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Nelson in at Golden State Warriors after Montgomery is fired

Coach Mike Montgomery was dismissed by the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, and Don Nelson was ready to step in.

Golden State will re-hire Nelson, the second-most successful coach in NBA history and the last coach to lead the downtrodden Warriors to the playoffs, yesterday, a league source said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn't been completed, said the 66-year-old Nelson settled his differences with Warriors owner Chris Cohan and agreed to return to the club where he went 277-260 from 1988-95 and led Golden State to its last playoff appearance in 1994.

Nelson, a three-time NBA coach of the year, has won 1,190 games in a career that also includes stops in Milwaukee, New York and Dallas, where he won 339 games and led the Mavericks' revitalization from 1998 until March last year, when he left amid health concerns.

The Warriors scheduled a news conference for yesterday but didn't divulge the reason.

Almost nothing good has happened to the Warriors since Nelson left in December 1995. Montgomery -- the Warriors' eighth coach in 12 seasons since Nelson's departure -- had identical 34-48 records in his two seasons with the club.

"Based on this agreement, we will now focus our efforts in a different direction and do what we think is in the best interest for this team," Chris Mullin, the Warriors' executive vice president, said.

The move is curiously timed, since the club opens training camp in just five weeks in Oakland. Mullin, who played for Nelson throughout the coach's tenure, has been thought to be unhappy with Montgomery for most of the last two years, but the Warriors' top executive repeatedly stated Montgomery would return for the upcoming season.

Nelson's arrival might be the necessary move to drum up interest in the Warriors, who promised big offseason changes after missing the playoffs for the 12th straight season. Mullin couldn't deliver any dramatic moves, only swapping Derek Fisher to the Utah Jazz for three players.

The 59-year-old Montgomery had two years remaining on a four-year, US$10 million contract he signed before the 2004-2005 season.
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